Emergency valve



A. H. ADAMS EMERGENCY VALVE May 7, 1946.

Filed Nov. 9, 1942 FIG 4 FIG 5 ARBEN H. ADAMS -INVENTOR.

BY #MW Patented May 7, 1946 EMERGENCY VALVE Arben H. Adams, NorthHollywood, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments. to Bendix AviationCorporation, South Bend, Ind.. a corporation oi' Application November 9,1942, Serial No. 465,013

i Claim.

This invention relates to iiuid control valve and rupturable conduitsystems and more particularly to the valve for interrupting the flowthrough the conduit system.

The invention is particularly applicable to military airplanes. In suchairplanes hydraulic and pneumatic power systems are used for operatingflaps, retracting landing gear and the like. Often the conduits for suchfluids are ruptured by enemy ilre, and unknown to the pilot allavailable nuid under pressure may run out of the break in the conduits,exhausting the supply for necessary operations. The present inventionprovides means to stop the flow of iluid the instant the line is broken,so that no pressure fluid is wasted. Although especially suitable formilitary use the present invention may well be applied to other uses,such as the hydraulic brake conduits of automotive vehicles, inasmuch asan accident may damage such conduits and render a braking systeminoperative.

Many attempts have been made to provide automatic shutoi! valves foriluid lines. The principal development has been along the lines of shutoi! by flow of fluid in an amount such as might result from a break inthe line. Such control is inherently unsuited for aircraft. inasmuchpossible, and many speciilcations call for retraction in severalseconds. Also, under some conditions partial vacuums are created in someactuating cylinders. resulting in a fluid now greater than would resultit the conduit were broken. For these reasons, shutoii valves based onduid flow are limited in application. t

The present shutoi! valve is independent of iluid now, and it isactuated only by a break in the uuid line. The invention operatesimmediately and does not waste iluid as in a flow controlled valve,wherein iluid must now out of the break before the valve is operated.The invention consists in wrapping iine wire about a length of tubingand passing electrical curi-mt through thewire.Whenthetubeisbrokenbysunilre. or otherwise. the wire will also bebroken, shutting oi! the current and operating the shutoi! valve o! thisinvention.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an automaticshutoi! valve for interrupting iiow in a iiuid system when a breakoccurs in the iluld tubing.

Another object is to` provide a shutoil valve In the drawing forming apart of this specification:

Figure 1 is an elevation view of the solenoid valve of this inventionshown in full section, with a length of tubing attached;

.m 1g Figure 2 is a longitudinal section along the line 2-2 of thetubing of Figure l, showing the construction of the same:

Figure 3 is a transverse section of the tubing along the lines 2-3 ofFigure 2;

Figure i is a longitudinal section of a modiiied form of tubing forminga part of this specification: and

Figure 5 is a section along the lines -S-t of Figure 4.

u Referring to Figure l, a valve il including a housing Il has an inletboss l2 with an inlet port Il and an outlet boss Il with an outlet portil. A shoulder I1 of boss Il rests against a hole in nre wall 2l. Oftenprotective armor is used in place oi a re wall, and in that event thevalve is protected and only the exposed tubing is subject to damage. Anut 22 holds the valve il in place on wall 2l. Tubing 24 is attached toboss Il by a nut 2i which also acts to lock nut 22 in place.

Housing ll is centrally drilled as at 2l, which hole communicates withexhaust port I8. The upper part has an enlarged drilled hole 30connecting with inlet port il. A valve seat 32 is formed at the junctionof holes 2l and 2l. Placed within hole 2l is a ferrous piston It havinga. poppet portion 30. A light spring 3l urges piston 3l and poppetupwardly and is suiliciently strong to overcome inertia forces when theairplane is maneuvering. A passage ll in piston 34 allows the escape oitrapped iluid when the piston is pulled downwardly as will be nextexplained. A cap l2 closes the upper end of hole lfand is sealed againstiluid loss by gasket u.

Formed in the bottom of housing Il is an anso wires pass. When directcurrent electricity is passed through coil 4l a magnetic field iscreated. drawing piston 34 toward the center of the coil against thecompression ot spring Il. This causes poppet u to contact seat 32,shutting on fluid dow.

Secured to the bottom of plug lll is a shell 54 to which is fastened anormally energized relay IB controlling current now to coil 4l. Thepositive side of a battery Il supplies current to relay Il and coil 4lthrough a switch 6l. Coil 4I is connected directly to the negative sideof battery 58, but the relay Sl is connected through a wire 82 leadingto conduit 24. Wire l2 is soldered to a wire I4 wrapped spirally aroundtube 24. Wire I4 in turn is soldered to a wire passing along the tube 24until it reaches wire t2. Wire 84 is there soldered to a wire II leadingdirectly to the negative side of battery l2.

The construction of tube 24 is shown in detail inFiguree2and3.InFlgure2iswillbenoted that fabric tubing 1l covers the metal tubing 24and the wires I4. This fabric tubing may be of the type which is used inelectrical wiring to cover a wire. or plurality of wires. Figure 3 showsthe return wire .i also. There it will be noted that this wire merelyoverlies the spirally wound wire i4, and is covered by fabric tubing 1lalso. In manufacture, the tubing 24 is wound with spiral wire and thelengthwise wire i6 is also laid upon the metal tubing. I'he fabriccovering 'il is then woven around the tubing and wire, resulting'in ailnished product which may be cut to commercial lengths. such as severalhundred feet in length. 'I'he wires 04 and 0l is preferably insulated byenamel nnish and extremely fine, so that an average length of tubing,for example 10 to 15 feet, may have a relatively high resistance andabsorb very little power from the battery 52. The spacing of wire 64 ontube 24 may be adjusted to the type of damage encountered. If injury isdue to ilne splinters, it must be wound closely. If a direct bullet hitis necessary, a spacing of 1A; inch or A inch may be sumcient.

Another form of tubing is shown in Figures 4 and 5. This tubing includesan additional fabric covering 12. covering the metal tubing 24 directly,and wire 64 may be wound on this fabric tubing. Thereafter fabric tubing1l may be applied over wire i4. This embodiment of the tubing is forheavy duty use such as when a tubing must be distorted through manyturns to fit a particular installation. 'I'he inner tubing 'I2 cushionsthe wire I4 against any blows so that the wire 04 will not be severedwhen receiving a hard blow.

In actual use. the tubing may be cut with a saw or any other convenienttool to the desired length, cutting through fabric covering 10 or 12 andthrough the spiral wire C4 and the lengthwise wire At one end of thetube, the end remote from control valve Il, the wires 44 and 48 aresoldered together, completing a return circuit to the other g end of thelength of Atube severed. At the other assasss device is mounted, hecloses switch il. This causes current to flow to relay I8 and coil 4l.Since the inductance of coil 4l is greater than relay Il, the relay willopen before coil 4l can pull poppet Il to its seat. Inlet port I4 isconnected to a source of fluid under pressure. Fluid, either pneumaticor hydraulic, may then iiow through the valve i0 and its attached tubing24.

If the airplane should now be subject to gun fire, valve III would beprotected, since it is back of-armor wall 20. Tube 24 would be exposed,however, and may be broken by bullets or splinters. If a bullet strikestube 24, knocking a hole in it or severing it, the wires 64 would besevered. This causes relay Il to lose its energization and close,closing the circuit to coil 48. Coil 48 creates a magnetic ,eld drawingpiston 24 to the center of it. 'This draws poppet 30 to its seat 32 andfluid under pressure maintains the poppet in s. seated position.

When the airplane returns tothe ground, the

tube 24 may be replaced with a new tube, after severing the connectionsto wires 62 and $8. Thereafter the coil 4I may be cle-energized andpressure in port I4 relieved. Spring 2l will then cause the poppet 3i tomove upwardly and the conduit 24 is again ready for use. Even when aconduit is not damaged it may be necessary to remove the same. In thisevent, it is also desirable not to lose hydraulic iiuid from thesystem,which may be present at a low or atmospheric pressure. For this occasionany simple tool may be inserted in hole il in relay housing 50, to closerelay il. 'I'his causes the poppet to seat. and if tube 24 is thereafterremoved no fluid will be lost from the system. 'Ihis same result mayalso beobtained by cutting wire i2 and 88, a necessary preliminarybefore removing conduit 24. In any event therefore valve I0 acts as aconvenient disconnect coupling to prevent wasting of fluid. e

When the airplane is not in use, switch 64 is kept open to prevent wasteof current.

It is obvious that many diierent embodiments of the invention may beused. For example, electric current may be Passed through the tube 24itself, and severing of the tube would cause valve Ill to act. Or, thecovering wire may be lengthwise as well as spiral. Also, actuation ofthe valve is not necessarily dependent upon the conduit connected to it,but may. be operated by damage to a remote conduit.

Although this invention has been described with reference to particularembodiments thereof, it is not limited to the same nor otherwise exceptby the terms'of the following claim.

I claim:

A solenoid valve for use in a shutoil' system comprising a housing withan inlet and an outlet port and a seat formed between them, a poppettherein normally open and out of the stream of ow, a magneticallyresponsive shank on said poppet, a solenoid near said shank, and meansincluding said solenoid and shank for closin;F said poppet against theseat, in which the poppet is on the inlet side of said seat and saidseat constitutes the sole iluid passage between said inlet and outletports, whereby the poppet is uncontrolled by fluid iiow through the openvalve .but is urged against its seat in response to dinerential pressurebetween the said inlet and outlet ports after the poppet has been seatedby said means.

ARBEN H. ADAMS

